A FORMER railway station, a prehistoric settlement and a university campus are all featured as part of Historic England’s highlights of 23 remarkable buildings and places listed in 2018.

Sites across the North-East and North Yorkshire stand out among more than 950 new entries added to the National Heritage List for England over the last 12 months.

Listings identify the most important parts of the country’s heritage and receive protection by law to ensure they can be preserved and enjoyed by future generations.

The record holds a trove of special and unique places, including buildings, monuments, parks, gardens and battlefields. It now also marks the former Otterington railway station, in South Otterington, Northallerton.

Travellers on the East Coast Mainline north of York typically pass the disused station at speeds of more than 100 miles per hour. Blink and many will miss it.

However, this Grade II-listed station building still stands with its London and North Eastern Railway signal box built in 1932 to replace the Victorian station serving the Hambleton district in North Yorkshire.

The charm of the station’s 1930s modernity failed to change the fact it was always a sleepy wayside railway station before it eventually closed to passengers in 1958 and to goods traffic in 1964.

The very roots of County Durham life has also been recognised as a Historic England highlight, with a walled settlement 200m south-east of East Mellwaters farmhouse at Bowes now a Scheduled Monument.

Rare stony earthworks were discovered at the site, indicating to experts the settlement bucked the traditions of Iron Age and Romano-British native communities in Northern England, which were usually defined by a bank and a ditch.

Post-war architecture in the region has also made it to this year’s list, with the University of York’s Central Hall and Campus West designed landscape now Grade II listed and a Grade II listed Park and Garden respectively.

Duncan Wilson, chief executive of Historic England said: “From an old lifeboat house in Essex to a former railway station in Otterington to the Cock sign in Sutton high street, our fascinating history and heritage is celebrated through listing.

“We encourage people to understand and enjoy the wonderful range of historic places on their own doorsteps and by listing them we are protecting them for future generations.”